


A Logical Form of Relationship

by WeirdLittleStories



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Mostly Dialogue, Reaction to lots of fanfics that talk about this but overlook something important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-09
Updated: 2014-01-09
Packaged: 2018-01-08 01:50:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1126971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeirdLittleStories/pseuds/WeirdLittleStories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim wonders why a relationship that can't produce offspring is accepted by Vulcans, and Spock explains how logical it is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Logical Form of Relationship

**Author's Note:**

> Darya has kindly translated this story into Russian. If you'd rather read the story in that language, you can find it at [this site](https://ficbook.net/readfic/3165267).

* * *

  
After their first time making love, Jim and Spock lay quietly in Kirk's bunk, holding each other, and they lay wrapped around each other at least as much for the joy of it as because the bed was small.    
  
Before their love-making, the two men had discussed their mutual delight in finding that the other reciprocated their love, and while they had shared many words of affection and appreciation, there was one small issue remaining that Jim wanted to talk about.  
  
Kirk propped himself up on one elbow and looked fondly down at his old friend and brand-new lover.  "I never thought that you would consider this."  
  
Spock looked curiously at his lover.  "I realize that Vulcans are far less demonstrative than humans, but I believe I made my regard for you quite clear."  
  
Kirk smiled.  "Oh, I knew you liked me, even loved me.  But I never thought you would be able to express that love sexually."  
  
Spock sat up.  "You refer to the myth that Vulcans are capable of sexual activity only during pon farr?"  
  
"No," Kirk said, "I knew that wasn't true.  But ... I thought Vulcans would consider homosexual relationships to be illogical, since they don't produce children."  
  
"Jim," Spock said, "You have _been_ to Vulcan."  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"Surely, even with the magnitude of the events that occurred there, you cannot have failed to notice that Vulcan is a desert planet."  
  
Kirk looked slightly annoyed.  "Of course.  I think every schoolboy knows that about Vulcan, even the ones who haven't been there.  Vulcan is a desert.  So what?"  
  
Spock put on his Science-Officer manner.  "Even your green and fertile Earth cannot support unlimited population growth.  Your ancestors discovered this nearly too late and narrowly averted a Malthusian catastrophe."  
  
Kirk sighed.  "That's true, we nearly bred ourselves into disaster."  
  
Spock steepled his fingers.  "How much truer, then, must it be for Vulcan — with its much more limited supplies of water and of arable land — that population should be limited, that not everyone who might wish for children should have them?"  
  
"So you mean that ..."  
  
Spock continued explaining.  "Consider, also, that all adult Vulcans must have mates.  Nor is it only pon farr that ensures that this is so, for an unmated adult Vulcan feels a mental lack, where the telepathic bond should be.  Even in the absence of pon farr, optimum mental health requires a mate bond."  
  
Kirk considered this.  "If every Vulcan has to have a spouse, but only some Vulcans should have children, then ..."  
  
Spock gazed fondly at his human lover.  "Then the most logical form of relationship for many Vulcans is a homosexual one."  
  
"Vulcans don't practice contraception?"  
  
"Contraception came into widespread use on Vulcan nearly a millennium ago.  But the pattern of Vulcan marital bonds was set thousands of years before that."  
  
"So our relationship is logical."  Jim made a face.  "And here I thought we'd get to break all the rules!"  
  
Spock raised a teasing brow.  "Take heart, Jim.  While no Vulcan will object to your gender, there is a substantial minority who will object to your species."  
  
Kirk laughed and hugged his logical lover.  


**Author's Note:**

> A lot of the stories I read have Kirk and Spock talking about the fact that their relationship won't produce any children, with one or both of them worrying that such a relationship will be seen by Vulcans as illogical. But it seems to me that putting together "MUST mate" with "Vulcan is a DESERT" with "Vulcans live for 200 years" leads to the conclusion that gay relationships would be not just accepted but actually encouraged. So I dashed off this tiny ficlet.
> 
> Of course, this has to be in the TOS universe, since in the reboot universe, Vulcan desperately needs more Vulcans. But I usually think in the TOS universe, anyway, so it's all good. :-)


End file.
